TRUE COLOURS

TRUE COLOURS

           

            Loons are black and white.  Everybody knows that.  Yet, come with me on a camping trip which we took with our children many years ago and see what we discovered:

 

          The two paddles dipped as one, quietly, without splashing: mine from the bow, my husband’s from the stern of the canoe. Our two life-jacketed children sat in the middle, enthralled:  how close would we be able to come to the family of loons in the middle of the lake before they did their characteristic shy dives and popped up in another place, farther away?

          On a camping holiday in Northern Ontario, we had portaged to a quiet, hidden lake where no raucous motorboats were allowed.

          Closer and closer we came, scarcely breathing. Paddling gently, slowly, we approached to within ten feet of the loons, then four. Soon we were close enough to touch the parents and their two fuzzy babies. We saw, instead of black silhouettes, the checkered weaving of black with white, sun-splashes of green, pink and blue on sleek black feathers, striking patterns and textures.

          We had only one brief glimpse, and then they were gone. We have since tried many times to see the colours of the loon, but the gift has never been given again.

          In the same way, we were given the gift of living and working for over four years among the Chippewas of Nawash at the then Cape Croker Indian Reserve. We were given our first, very special glimpse, like no other, of the beauty and warmth of the native people and their culture. It is a gift from God, one which we will carry in our hearts forever.

          People often see God in black and white too.  Like the native peoples He created, He has been greatly misunderstood.  During our four years at Cape Croker, we saw some of His tender, previously hidden colours as He worked in our lives and in the lives of those whom we had come to serve.

           Every tribe and every individual is important to God and has been given wisdom from which we can benefit.  Each one displays God’s splendor in a unique way.

          And God saw everything that He had made and behold, it was very good (suitable, pleasant) and He approved it completely. Genesis 1:31(Amplified Bible)